


Tomorrow

by Shortculler (Starculler)



Series: Flash Fiction Friday [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Gen, Jason Todd is Robin, Not entirely canon-compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:22:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27647449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starculler/pseuds/Shortculler
Summary: The warehouse explodes and Bruce is too late, but death isn't fast. He gets a few moments with his son, in the end, but it's never really enough.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne
Series: Flash Fiction Friday [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866400
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> This was done for the [Flash Fiction Friday](https://flashfictionfridayofficial.tumblr.com/) prompt "Dreams of Tomorrow"
> 
> There's a bit at the end there where I directly quote/reference _Batman: Under the Red Hood_
> 
> Enjoy!

Bruce choked on the sour, cloying scent of burnt hair and charred skin as he held his son in his arms, cradled close to his chest with all the care he could manage between the shivering grief crawling up his spine and the inconsolable rage building behind his ribs. He tasted acrid, burning bile on his tongue when he looked over his boy — cracked, blistering wounds, his uniform tattered almost beyond recognition, and his eyes... He swallowed, sucked in a shuddering breath, and so very gently reached up with one trembling, gloved hand to cup Jason’s cheek, hand curving around the shriveled mess of his ear and letting his fingers press into the wet tangle that remained of his hair.

There was no pained flinch when he made contact. No sound. Not so much as a glimmer of recognition in Jason’s dull, green eyes. Bruce’s own stung behind his cowl and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep the tears from spilling. To keep himself together for just a little longer.

“Jason,” he said and hated the way his voice shook. “Just hold on, son. Help is coming.”

Fifteen minutes, Alfred had said just moments before Bruce had watched the warehouse go up in flames. He just needed to keep Jason alive for fifteen minutes and then everything would be fine. He refused to believe there could be any other outcome, even as Jason’s breath rattled in his chest and the slightest shift pried a whimpering hiss from between his lips.

“Help is coming,” he repeated and swiped his thumb carefully under the red skin around one clouded, green eye.

“Dad.” Bruce held his breath. His vision blurred, wavering with a fresh wave of unshed tears. “Tomorrow,” Jason said, voice little more than a wrecked whisper.

“Don’t—”

“Tomorrow,” Jason repeated, each word causing him obvious pain as he ignored Bruce’s attempted interruption. “Let’s go. Out. Somewhere.” He struggled to breathe between words, using his whole body to draw in as much air as he could. “Somewhere fun.”

“Yeah?” Bruce swallowed down the lump in his throat, forcing his lips to quirk up into the smallest, tightest smile he could manage. “We haven’t done anything fun lately have we? Too busy.”

Jason tilted his head back, crown pressing into his chest and resting just below the black bat symbol. Bruce did his best to readjust his hold so he could pull his son a little closer, a little more securely into his lap like Jason was a child much younger than the one he’d found stealing tires in crime alley three years ago. He hated that this was all he could do, too scared of hurting him further by carrying him to the batmobile. Too terrified that any attempt to help would, somehow, make this worse — as if this weren’t already his greatest nightmare come to life.

“We’d bring Alfie. And Dick.” Jason’s words were starting to slur and Bruce could see his good eye drooping, the other already swollen shut. “Could go to. ‘quarium ‘r something.”

“Maybe the bookstore after,” Bruce added, trying to sound optimistic and failing miserably. “That. That new book you’ve been waiting for is releasing tonight. I had it ordered. A signed copy.”  
  


“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“You. Didn’t hafta. Bruce.” Jason coughed, bright, red, fresh blood whetting his lips.

“I wanted to,” he said, chest seizing. He held on a little tighter, as if that alone could stave off the earth-shattering outcome he could see playing out before his eyes. “What else do you want to do?”

Jason breathed. In. Out. Each one softer, fainter, than the last. Each one more of a struggle. Bruce’s stomach clenched, roiling unpleasantly the longer it took to get a reply.

“Fly.”

Bruce clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth when he noticed the wet sheen in Jason’s eye. The fear. Bruce leaned forward, as much as he dared, so the tip of his nose just barely brushed his son’s forehead.

“You will,” he said, firm. An order.

“Bruce?” He hummed, throat too tight to do much else. “This was. Best. ‘f my life. Y’know?”

He tensed, every muscle rigid under the Batman’s suit. He remembered, then, a much smaller Jason in a different costume. Excited. Vibrant. Whole and unhurt as he hoped up on the batmobile’s roof on his first night out as Robin. _This is the best day of my life_ , he’d said with his hands on his hips, staring at Bruce with no inkling of this reality between them. No thought or fear of death. Only an endless road of dreams and possibilities.

“I know,” Bruce murmured, soft. Broken.

“I know,” he repeated, knowing there was no one left to hear him as he clutched his son’s cooling body closer.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](https://starculler.tumblr.com/)


End file.
